Log May Be Key to Kursk Sinking

VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

Published
6:00 pm CST, Tuesday, January 29, 2002

Associated Press Writer

Investigators trying to figure out what sunk the Kursk nuclear submarine say they have been surprised to find many paper documents _ preserved by water _ and are hoping to locate the ship's log. That could provide the key to what caused the disaster.

In an interview published Wednesday, Artur Yegiyev, who is leading the Kursk probe, said his men were cutting their way "inch by inch" through the wreck, unable to use any electrical equipment because of fear of setting off an explosion.

Since the bulk of the Kursk was raised from the Barents Sea floor and put in a dry dock in October, investigators have been combing the wreck for human remains and clues about what brought down the Kursk in August 2000.

Officials have so far retrieved the remains of 94 out of the Kursk's 118 crewmen, all of whom died in the catastrophe. A total of 89 bodies have been identified, deputy chief prosecutor of the Northern Fleet Pavel Vodinsky said Wednesday.

Vodinsky said it would take investigators at least until the end of February to wrap up their search.

Yegiyev said investigators have removed torpedo fragments containing over 1,540 pounds of explosives from the maze of charred metal inside the submarine. The fragments of unexploded torpedoes were thrown from the Kursk's bow far back into its hull by the powerful blasts that sank the submarine during a naval exercise.

Investigators initially thought that all paper documents in the Kursk's control room had vanished in a giant fireball and were stunned to find some of them virtually intact. Yegiyev said the papers survived because water instantly flooded the control room ripped open by the blast, putting out the blaze.

Officials say an explosion of a practice torpedo led to the detonation of combat weapons in the bow. However, they say they have not determined whether the initial blast was caused by a flaw in the torpedo or a collision with another vessel, possibly a foreign submarine. Most experts dismiss the possibility of a collision.